Military engagements sometimes involve what is known as “swarm attacks.” A swarm attack is an attack against one or a few assets carried out by a great many—a swarm—of vehicles or weapons. The strategy of using a swarm of attacking vehicles is that, if even a few or only one of the attacking vehicles reaches its intended destination, the vehicle can still deliver a crippling blow to the attacked asset. Thus, an effective defense against a swarm attack must cripple or destroy all of the attacking vehicles or weapons of the swarm.
It can be difficult to provide such a defense against swarm attacks, especially if the number of defending weapons deployed is not significantly greater than the number of attacking vehicles. If the defender fires a weapon and waits to observe the effect before firing again, the swarm attack is more likely to be effective, especially if the weapon is fired from a great distance from the attacking vehicles. Thus, such swarm attacks can necessitate deployment of multiple weapons long before any of the deployed weapons have reached the attacking vehicles.
Often the deployed weapons are capable of selecting a target from amongst the attacking vehicles. Sometimes more than one of the deployed weapons will select the same target, however, from amongst the attacking vehicles. Therefore, even if more weapons are deployed than the number of attacking vehicles, there is no guarantee that every attacking vehicle will be targeted. Therefore, many more weapons than attacking vehicles are often deployed to minimize the probability that an attacking vehicle will escape unscathed. Such a defense strategy can be costly, and there is still no guarantee that the attack will be successfully defended, especially if the attacking vehicles are fast, suicidal, and/or many. A means for coordinating the targeting of multiple potential targets is therefore needed.